Indoor television antennas



Dec. 24, 1957 KAILEY 2,817,838

INDOOR TELEVISIQN ANTENNAS Filed March. 21, 1955 FJ'QB.

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United States Patent 2,817,838 Patented Dec. 24, 1957 fifice INDOOR TELEVISION ANTENNAS Theodore Kailey, Buflalo, N. Y.

Application March 21, 1955, Serial No. 495,547

7 Claims. (Cl. 343--866) My invention relates to indoor television antennas and more particularly to improvements in television antennas adapted or adaptable to receive signals from a multiplicity of directions.

The objects of my invention are to provide an indoor type of television antenna which will satisfactorily receive television signals in difficult reception areas; to provide an indoor type of antenna which is adapted to produce excellent results in receiving television signals emanating from television stations located in difierent directions from and at varying distances from the antenna; and to provide an indoor television antenna which is of simple construction, attractive in appearance and which can be manufactured and sold at a low cost.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a preferred form of my antenna.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of a modified form of my antenna; and

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that a pair of multi-sided plates 10, formed of insulating material and preferably having four equal sides (square) are spaced one above the other in parallel relation with their sides alined by a similarly shaped smaller tubular sheet metal reflector 11 having its vertical sides alined with and inwardly spaced at equal distances from the sides of the plates. thus extend outwardly beyond the sides of the reflector and to insure the desired alinement of their sides with the sides of the reflector each plate is provided with alining means, for example, each plate may be simply formed with a thicker central portion 12 of a size to snugly fit in either end of the reflector and located to aline the plates and each of their sides with one side of the reflector.

Each of the vertically opposite corners of the thus alined plates is provided with a, vertically disposed signal receiving member 13. These members are each preferably formed of a strip of light gage sheet metal bent to form an angle shaped member having equal legs spaced 90 degrees apart and having its opposite ends split along the bend and bent inwardly 90 degrees to provide overlapping attaching portions 14. The portions 14 are spaced a distance equal to the vertical spacing of the plates so that when one of the members 13 is placed on and secured to each of the four corners of the plates in the manner shown in Figures 1 and 2, these four memers not only serve as signal receivers but they also serve to maintain the plates in place on the reflector. In order to secure the members 13 in place each portion 14 is provided with a hole 15 which alines with a hole 16 formed in each corner of the plates 10 and a bolt 17 is passed through the associated holes 15 and 16 and is provided with a nut 18.

As viewed in Figure l, the left hand pair of members The sides of the plates 10 13 have their upper ends connected together by a jumper or conductor 19 and their lower ends connected together by a duplicate conductor 22 and the right hand pair of members 13 have their upper and lower ends connected together by duplicate conductors 21 and 23 respectively.

The ends of the conductors are each provided with a hole 24 through which the bolts 17 are extended to secure them in place, thus providing a complete television antenna designated by the letter A.

The antenna A as viewed in Figure l is connected to one end of a two-wire head-in cable 25 by having one end of its wire 26 connected to the forward end of the conductor 22, and one end of its wire 27 connected to the forward end of the conductor 23. The other ends of the wires 26 and 27 are connected to a television receiver (not shown) in the usual manner.

The above described antenna A may be supported in its upright position by any suitable support means, however, since this antenna is intended for use on or near a television receiver, its appearance is deemed important and for this and other reasons it has been found advantageous to provide a light, inexpensive and attractive support means which, by way of example, may be constructed in the following manner:

A suitable support 30 comprises a base 31 having an upright section of tubing 32 secured to its center. The tubing 32 extends vertically through holes 33 formed in the center of the spaced plates 10, and about midway be tween its ends is provided with a rigid shoulder in the form of a rigidly secured collar 34 which locates and supports the antenna A on the tubing 32 above the base. The open upper end of, the tubing terminates slightly below the top surface of the upper plate 10 and is provided with a headed plug 35 the stem of which fits tightly in the tubing to exclude dust and the head of which overlies the top plate 10 to allow rotation of the antenna on and to prevent its removal from the tubing.

The overall height of my antenna and its support is in the order of fifteen inches and since its greatest width may be about siX inches it is apparent that my antenna is adapted for use on or near a television receiver.

Accordingly in use my antenna is placed on or near the receiver to which it is connected by the lead-in cable 25 and is rotated manually more or less about its vertical axis until the receiver, having been tuned tothe frequency of a selected transmitter, produces a satisfactory picture. At this time one pair of the members 13 and their asS0- ciated reflector surface will face in the direction oi the selected transmitter, and if, for example, this pair of members faces north another pair will face south, another pair will face east and another pair will face west, and each pair will receive signals from a transmitter located generally in the direction in which they face. In the event the receiver is turned to the frequency of a transmitter located say southeast from the antenna and the picture received is not clear, the antenna is simply rotated manually about its vertical axis more or less until the picture is clear and at this time the pair of the members 13 receiving the signal and the associated reflector will be facing in the direction of the transmitter i. e. southeast. The antenna A is thus adapted to satisfactorily receive signals from transmitters located at various distances and in different directions from the antenna.

The indoor antenna A shown in Figures 3 and 4 above is intended for installation in a place more or less remote from a receiver, for example, in an attic, and since it cannot be readily rotated by hand to satisfactorily receive signals from transmitters located at various distances from and in different directions thereabout, it is provided with a plurality of modified signal receiving members 13'.

The construction and arrangement of the component parts of the antenna A except as noted below, is essen 3 tially the same as in the antenna A and for this reason the following description is deemed sufficient.

The antenna A like the antenna A has a pair of square insulating plates spaced by a square tubular reflector 11' however, each corner of the plates 10 is provided with a plurality of the signal receiving members 13'. The members 13', being each formed of a section of metal tubing having each of its end portions bent 90 degrees to form equal legs, are U-shaped. The equal legs are spaced by a straight bight portion to span the plates 10' and each have a flattened end portion 14 which is provided with a pair of spaced holes to receive bolts 17, which together with nuts 18 secure the member 13' to the plates 10.

As shown in Figure 4 the legs of the U-shaped mem- .bers 13' are horizontally disposed, and their bight portions are vertically disposed and spaced outwardly from the plates 10'. As shown in Figure 3, each corner of the plates 10 is preferably provided with three of the members 13' which are arranged in an outwardly diverging relation one to the other. The legs of each center member 13 and its bight portion lie in a plane which bisects diagonally opposite corners of the plates 10' and the other flanking pair of members 13' of each corner diverge outwardly from the inner end of the center member, so that the upright bight portions of the flanking members of one group are slightly spaced from the bight portion of the flanking members of the adjacent groups.

As viewed in Figure 3, the top inner ends 14' of the upper left hand group of members 13' are connected to the top inner end 14' of the lower right hand group of members 13' by a diagonally disposed conductor 19' and the top inner ends 14' of the lower left hand group of members 13 are connected to the top inner ends 14' of the upper right hand group of the members 13' by a diagonally disposed conductor 21 spaced from the conductor 19', whereas the bottom inner ends 14' of the two left hand groups of members 13' are connected together by a conductor 22' and the bottom inner end 14' of the two right hand groups of the members 13' are connected together by a conductor 23. The cross connected conductors thus facilitate the reception of signals coming from a plurality of different directions.

The antenna A is connected to a television receiver (not shown) by a two wire lead-in wire 25 in the manner described above in connection with the antenna A, and because of the number and arrangement of its signal receiving members 13 and the arrangement of its pairs of conductors, the antenna A is adapted to satisfactorily receive signals from transmitters located at various distances and in different directions from the antenna Without rotating it about the axis of its support 32.

It should be understood that the described forms of my invention are intended to exemplify its principles and that various rearrangements and modifications of its component parts may be made within the scope of the apother with their side edges alined and in outwardly spaced parallel relation to the sides of the reflector, a plurality of metal signal receiving elements each extended between and having inturned ends each secured to one of the vertically opposite corner portions of the plates in outwardly spaced vertical relation to the reflector, whereby the plates outwardly space and insulate the elements from the reflector, pairs of conductors, each pair connecting together the ends of one pair of the signal receiving elements, a two-wire lead-in cable having one end of each of its wires connected to one-half of the elements and having the other end of its wires connected to a television receiver, and means for supporting the antenna in its upright signal receiving position.

2. An antenna as set forth in claim 1 wherein the corners of the plates are substantially square and the elements are in the form of angle-shaped strips conforming to and embracing said corners, whereby the strips are spaced and their side surfaces lie in the same plane, in spaced parallel relation to each other and in outwardly spaced parallel relation to the associated reflector surface, each pair of elements being adapted to receive signals coming from the direction in which their side surfaces face.

3. An antenna as set forth in claim 1 wherein the support means comprises a base member and an upright member having its lower end secured to the center of a base member and its upper portion secured to the center of at least one of the insulating plates in spaced relation to the reflector and the elements, whereby the support is insulated from the reflector and said elements.

4. An antenna as set forth in claim 3 wherein the antenna is rotatably secured on the upper portion of the upright member thereby allowing it to be manually rorated more or less, whereby the side surfaces of a pair of said elements may be located to best receive signals ,from a selected transmitter.

5. An antenna as set forth in claim 1 wherein the signal receiving elements are U-shaped metal tubes having parallel leg portions and a straight bight portion and the legs of a group of said elements being directed inwardly are secured to each of the vertically opposite pairs of corner portions of the plates to lie in outwardly diverging relation one to the other, thereby positioning their bight portions vertically and in spaced parallel relation to each other and in spaced parallel relation to the bight portions of adjacent groups of said elements, whereby said groups of elements may be located to satisfactorily receive signals coming from diflerent directions and the antenna fixed against rotation.

6. An antenna as set forth in claim 5 wherein one conductor of each pair cross-connects one-half of the elements to the other half of the elements, thereby facilitating the reception of signals coming from the directions in which said groups face.

7. An antenna as set forth in claim 1 wherein means are provided for alining the sides of the plates with each other and with the sides of the reflector.

Hand Mar. 1, 1932 Middlemark Feb. 12, 1952 

